thanks Jeff Harris On this day in music history: January 7, 1967 - Tell It Like It Is by Aaron Neville hits #1 on the Billboard R&B singles chart for 5 weeks, also peaking at #2 on the Hot 100 for 1 week on January 28, 1967. Written by George Davis and Lee Diamond, it will be the biggest hit for the New Orleans born vocalist. Recorded in 1965, Davis and Diamond will shop the track around to various record labels and are turned down by all of them. Over a year after that, they will start their own label, Par-Lo Records and release it themselves. The record is an instant smash and will sell over a million copies within two months of its release. However, Neville will see no real monetary reward from sales of the multi-million selling single. The owners of the Par-Lo record label will find themselves in dire financial straits when they find it nearly impossible to collect money from various independent distributors, leading them to file for bankruptcy. Tell It Like It Is will have enduring popularity over the years being covered by numerous artists including Otis Redding & Carla Thomas, Percy Sledge, Nina Simone, Andy Williams, and Heart whose version will return the song to the top 10 in early 1981, peaking at #8 on the Hot 100. Aaron Nevilles version of Tell It Like It Is is inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 2015.
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 01:48:28 +0000
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